Stolen
by ReinaSaurus
Summary: The boy, Kaneki Ken, after a particular event escapes to a small town to recover from his problems. He had taken it at face value with how weird and peculiar the townspeople were. Not questioning, Kaneki finds himself being trapped by the gossiping whispers that surrounded his name. Soon, Kaneki realized he had more worries to face instead of mere gossiping. Something more deadly.
1. Chapter 1

Series: Tokyo Ghoul

Characters: Tsukiyama, Kaneki, Hide

Music that helped: NO.6 Original Soundtrack 2\07 ロウ.mp3

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Author note: This was a fleeting idea I had that related to a bizarre experience I had. This story features subject matter that touch bases to depression, suicide, manipulations, and supernatural activities. Some characters, due to circumstances, will act different than in canon verse.

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**Stolen**

**Chapter 1**

There was a stranger I met while I was walking around town. I noticed him from the corner of my eye. I glanced at him only for a moment but I could describe everything if need be. He was so odd. He was almost alien to how people usually dress in this old fashioned town.

He was probably in his late thirties.

He had a strong jaw and chiseled cheeks that slightly hollowed in. His nose was long but thickened at the end. He wore stylish black rims as glasses. His hair was short but swirled in the front giving him an edge. He walked with sauvé and pose, one hand tucked lazily into his black trouser pocket. His dress shirt was short and untucked, it slightly wrinkled over his muscles. His dress pants were rolled up to show his ankles and blue socks. He wore brown loafers. In his other hand he firmly gripped his suitcase, although smaller and thinner than most he still kept it swinging by his side. To top off his entire look, he wore an unfitting red and white checkered coat that was buttoned in the middle.

He was a stranger to this town but he walked like he owned it. This town was a small one, where everyone knows each other and nothing can be hidden. So it was a surprise to me when no one else saw him. Travelling down that road there was no one else there walking except myself and him. But I would have expected him being witnessed by someone else because he was walking towards the market. I decided to stop asking around because of the odd looks they gave me. I realized I was making a mistake asking the townsfolk. I didn't want to be isolated by them. The town is small so when someone acts a bit crazy, they become isolated. Then they disappear. Or so I've been told.

I don't want to disappear. I'm normal.

"Kaneki."

I turned around.

Hide was looking at me with worry. I asked him what was wrong, I didn't like him looking like that. I didn't want him to be troubled.

"People are talking…" He started off, but his voice started to fade off. His brows had furrowed up, he forced the words out. "They say you've been asking strange questions."

My eyes widen. It started.

"...That's not true, right?"

I found it hard to sort out for words. He took a step back from my lack of words. My heart was thumping and I could feel the blood rushing to my head.

"No!" I yelled too loudly, I winced in regret. I was afraid he would run away. I didn't want to be left behind. To my relief he didn't run, instead he laughed.

"Hey, don't worry man, I don't believe them!" He reassured me. His arm was wrapped over my shoulder, half hugging me. "You look like you're gonna cry, dude!"

I couldn't see his face but I could tell he was grinning wide. I argued that I wasn't crying and that he shouldn't scare me. He apologized saying he shouldn't have asked a useless question like that. He left shortly after, I watched his retreating back. I started to frown.

I couldn't forget how his arm was shaking over my shoulder. He was afraid. Afraid of what, I wasn't too sure. Afraid of me?

I came to this town three months ago. I was originally from the city, the bustling noises of cars and crowds of people filling every space. Despite the over population of people, you could still feel so alone. I wasn't happy and suffered a lot. You know, the typical story. A lonely boy who couldn't match his generation and being bullied for being slow, for being different, for not keeping up. It was hard. It was harder when my parents died. My distant relatives didn't want me. The world didn't want me. It was a typical story….and I hated that story.

In the city, I had decided that I didn't want to stay awake for all the pain, so I tried to fall asleep. I closed my eyes to sleep for a very long time. When I opened my eyes I was in the hospital, a nurse was hovered over me talking to someone dressed in blue and wearing a stiff hat. I didn't know what to make of this situation. Everything was blurry and it was hard to hear the voices. I remembered it all sounded like a rush. I blinked my eyes a few times and looked above me, someone else was hovered over me. Someone I couldn't quite put my hands on. Then it clicked. My eyes cleared up and the look that person's face gave me was unforgettable.

It was Hide.

My neighbour.

He had taken me to the hospital. Apparently, he had come over to invite me for dinner. He didn't feel right leaving a youth alone for dinner. Instead he had found the front door opened and me lying on the floor unconscious. I hadn't gone back to my apartment since that day. I stayed at the hospital to recuperate for several days. Hide came to visit me each day and said he would take me away from this city on my release day. Those words were magic to me. I didn't care where I was, as long as I got away from here I wanted to go.

And so we went.

We had travelled to his hometown, and he promised he wouldn't tell anyone of what happened to me. I didn't care if people knew but I learnt there was another reason he promised not to tell anyone. The people in this town were pleasant but the town was strange. The power of word gets spread like fire, no one is safe when the fire is being fueled by gossip. I had a vague idea about what he meant. But I soon learnt from the children of the town, that people would disappear from this. I don't know why he brought me here of all places but it gave me a reason to not care. I wouldn't have to talk about the old me because no one knew me. No one knew me, I could start anew.

It had been three months. Everything was going well.

Until I saw the strange man.

It was too late for me, because word was already spreading like a disease.

"_Kaneki Ken saw an invisible man._"

I couldn't leave the house. Let alone the room, Hide's family let me stay in. It wasn't that I didn't want to go out. I wasn't allowed to leave. Word was spreading and the townsfolk wanted me to disappear. My name was being associated with misfortune. I was told to stay in my room and that no one was allowed to visit me. When I asked why, Hide said it was for my safety and that I would be fully accommodated in this room. I don't know how long I stayed in that room, and I didn't really mind. There was a washroom in this room. There was always food placed in front of my door. I assume it was Hide as he would walk by and conversant with me. And like he said, I didn't have a need to actually leave.

I knocked on my door.

"Hide. Let me out."

I called out, hoping he heard and if not him, anyone. I had been doing that for a long time. He used to answer back to me but not anymore. No one would answer me. This time was no different. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. I turned to retreat back to the bed.

"I can't let you leave, Kaneki. You know why." Hide said, his voice was muffled behind the door. It sounded as though he was talking very closely to the door. I was shocked that he had answered this time. I hadn't heard another human voice in what felt like forever. I quickly walked back to the door and touched the wooden panels.

"Please. I can't stay like this." I pleaded. I was hoping he would open the door. I listened closely, I saw the knob turn and my heart was beating hard. He was going to let me out. I could see it in my mind, he was going to open the door and laugh this out as a joke. But then the knob stopped turning.

"I'm sorry."

My eyes wide when I heard footsteps walking away. I panicked for the first time.

"STOP!" I screamed, banging the door. I'm scared. "I NEED TO LEAVE. HIDE." I kicked the door, I swore when my toes jabbed the wooden door. I started muttering to myself, falling to the ground.

After a few days more I stopped eating. The food would still be replaced but I wouldn't see him. I was finding myself unable to sleep. When he noticed me being awake, he stopped coming altogether. I hadn't eaten, my stomach was cramping in from the pain. Hide hadn't walked by, he doesn't come to see me anymore. I stay up every night hoping to find a way out. Maybe Hide will sneak in the night to see me but...he doesn't. It's as though I've been forgotten. I was lying on the floor, I didn't have the energy to move.

"...I'm...dying…" I muttered slowly.

My body stiffened. I was...dying…? I sat up quickly only to feel nauseous from the sudden movement. But I couldn't think about that for too long because I realized something. They were trying to kill me. They wanted to make me disappear. There was a sudden adrenaline as I got to my feet. I needed to escape.

I didn't try to escape before because the only way out of this room was through a window and they would see me. Not only that, I didn't think there was a reason for me to escape. But the thought of them wanting to kill me like this was leaving an uncomfortable feeling in me. I don't know where this sense of living came from. I couldn't understand this sense of surviving in me. I never had it before in the city. Whatever it was, it had me smashing the window open with a chair. I know they heard the sound of shattering glass. I know they heard me screaming. And I know Hide was never going to forgive me but I wanted to live.

I was running. Bare feet, bleeding, and tired. I didn't look back but I could hear the sound of shouting from behind me. The screams of them wanting to kill me. To sacrifice me. To get rid of the crazy. I didn't stop running. I kept running and running and running. The sight of the town's road ending into the forest gave me an extra boost of energy. I needed to get out of here.

The moment I ran into the forest, I could barely hear any more shouting. It was almost as if it had stopped all together. If I had stopped running and turned around I would have noticed that there was never a crowd running after me. Instead, I would have saw a strange man wearing a red and white checkered suit standing at the foot of the forest incline.

And he was laughing.

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What to expect in the next chapter: A deeper insight behind the town's strange behaviour.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

This town was cursed. Every season someone would go crazy seeing an invisible man, and then they would go killing a few people before disappearing into the forest. Most of the young ones in our town were dead. The young children were still alive but the last young teenager had disappeared. The elders called me to meet with them. They said they wanted to me to go to the city. They wanted me to bring some young ones from the city and use them to appease the curse. I didn't want to do it but I knew what it was implied if I didn't. It was either the adults or children that were next. I had moved to the city for two years now, and every season I had brought someone back to the town. For some reason, it was easy for me to take someone away. The elders said it must be my fate to perform this duty.

I would constantly move to different complex buildings in the city. I had recently moved into a small building near the subway. To my luck, my neighbour was my next target. I didn't have to search around but I had to wait for the next season. During the time I waited, I had in some ways I had concerned myself with my lonely neighbour. He was a high school dropout and lived alone. While rearranging my apartment space I had noticed a small hole, the size of a nickel, in my wall. I peered inside and was surprised that I was able to see, not clearly, inside the apartment of my next victims. I covered it, not making it a habit to peek inside.

I was coming home late in the evening with a bag of groceries. I decided I would make my first move to further befriend my neighbour and convince him to come with me back to my town. I knocked on his door and was surprised to find no response. I found it odd. I walked back into my apartment and started dinner, I would assume that he wasn't home. Obviously, the curiosity got the best of me. I peeked into the hole and took a step back. I immediately ran back to his apartment door and kicked the door down. It was lucky that the doors were cheap here. I called the police and alerted them to an emergency. He was lying on the floor, bottles of pills were beside his body. I checked to see if he was breathing and panicked. I couldn't lose him yet, I just found him.

At the hospital, he was being treated by a doctor and nurses. The police officers were asking me questions which I answered. I wasn't taken away for any interrogating which was good for me. When my neighbour woke up, I was relieved. He stayed in the hospital even longer for recovery. I had noticed that the police officers were still hanging around me. I was worried. They might be connecting me to the kidnapping of young teens. I needed to leave before it's too late. It wasn't too hard to convince my neighbour to escape with me to my town.

When we arrived to my town, the townspeople were apprehensive. I had come too early. I assured them everything was going fine and not to worry. I introduced everyone to him and in the time that he stayed here, everyone enjoyed his company.

But then we heard it. The news was spreading. I had to know if it was true. It was too early for it to be happening. The season hadn't changed into the new one yet. I ran over to him.

"Kaneki."

He turned around.

I was looking at him apprehensively. I needed him to tell me but I didn't know how to ask him. He asked me what was wrong, I swallowed and searched for words.

"People are talking…" I started off, but my voice started to fade off when I realized I shouldn't say it like that. I knitted my brows together, and spoke. "They say you've been asking strange questions."

Kaneki's eyes widen.

"...That's not true, right?" I asked him, I need him to tell me. Kaneki's face was contorted up and I knew he was feeling troubled. Kaneki's mentality was very vulnerable. So something like this, the buildup I gave him about this town's crushing nature, it's affecting him. I took a step back. He was taking too long to respond, I need him to be pushed into answering.

"No!" He yelled too loudly. His face winced up as he shut his eyes. I chuckled in relief. It was true. Kaneki's reaction was all I needed.

"Hey, don't worry man, I don't believe them!" I said and placed my arm was wrapped over his shoulder, half hugging him. "You look like you're gonna cry, dude!"

Kaneki's face was buried in the crook of my neck. It was good that he couldn't see him but I was grinning so wide. The look in my eyes must be giving off what I was feeling. My neck started to get wet and I told him not to cry.

"I'm not crying….but don't scare me like that next time…"

I apologized to Kaneki. "Alright, I shouldn't have asked that useless question. I won't do it next time." Like there ever will be a next time. My body was shaking from excitement. I don't know where it was coming from. From all the other ones before Kaneki, I had never felt so excited. I left quickly, knowing I wouldn't be able to hold it all in.

I went back to the elders and told them the news. Their concern was confusing. It was the first time since the curse, which the invisible man had chosen someone early in the season. They didn't know what this meant or what it was implied. They began to worry that we might need another youth for the end of the season. I wasn't all about that plan. I wanted to witness the disappearance of Kaneki. I didn't want to leave again. So I argued that we should keep Kaneki away from the forest until the end of the season, that way we wouldn't need more sacrifices. That way I wouldn't have to take any more youths for now.

I kept him in the room for a few days now. He said he wanted to leave but I refused. I didn't go upstairs to see him after but then I heard a scream coming from his room. I smiled.

"This is it!" I exclaimed, running to the room. Kaneki was going rampant upstairs, which meant he was going into the stage in which the chosen ones would be on a killing spree before disappearing. There was the sound of something shattering as I ran towards the door. I opened it and frowned. He wasn't inside. He was gone. The window was shattered.

"...no...You were supposed to kill sacrifices," My voice was shaking as I walked over the broken glass. As I walked closer to the window, I felt a sob be stuck in my throat. "...you were supposed to kill me…." I was so sick of this curse. Kaneki was supposed to be my ticket out of this life but he left me behind. I laughed bitterly.

"I can kill you for him." I widened my eyes. As I turned around to see who it was, I could only see the colours red and white. My throat was stinging and I was tasting my own blood. I fell forward to the ground and my vision started to blur into blackness.

Hide dropped to the floor. He lay, unmoving, in the empty room that Kaneki once stayed in.

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Author Notes: This chapter is shorter than the first one but hopefully this gives some light to the town's oddity. And, as a head's up, sorry for my lack of description in what to expect.

_What to expect in the next chapter: The demon's hunger. _


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